Mrs Rusty Bucket

cyrus2015 Even if you think he has no hope of winning with all the marks - show him anyway - think of it as good practice for when you get a dog that is unblemished (suspect no dog is perfect)... It also will take the pressure off as you won't have any expectations or hang ups about winning. It's more important to get the feel of competition. And if you don't want to do conformation shows - there are also things called "gun dog shows"... and the gun dog clubs should be able to help with the training that goes with those.

I've trained my dog to fetch shoes and socks - to check to see if I'm paying attention - before she nicks off outside with them. If I'm paying attention - she happily hands them over. This started as a fetch game with treats in front of the telly. So I'd have various objects for her to fetch. But I would also trade shoes for treats - so that overlapped. I don't have to give a treat any more for her fetches - not every time but we did put a "a lot of money in the bank" ie she's been rewarded a lot for fetching shoes, sox and hats to me. I also play a lot of "its yer choice" - starts with food in one hand and rewards from the other hand if your dog can show enough impulse control to leave your food hand alone. Lots of youtube for this one. It's a variation of "leave it" except the dog chooses of its own accord and you reward that - there's no cue - apart from a hand with tempting food in it. Variations on this game are to put the tempting food in different places like on a coffee table or the floor and cover it up with the hand that previously was used for the shut-open-shut holding food game. So I've managed to build that to - I can leave my dinner on the coffee table and the worst she will do is bark at it. But mostly she ignores it. I was impressed - I've got video - was trying to catch something else, forgot something and left my porridge where she could reach it... she didn't touch it for five solid minutes while I faffed around out of sight. And her counter surfing looks like - she checks the counter for good stuff and then sits next to the counter and barks for me to give it to her. I don't reward that. So if you start with little its yer choice games - with your dog on lead (so you can prevent nicking off) and good treats for fetching and handing over the objects - you can build that to bigger things. It probably won't be instant, but will work eventually. As for the nicking off with stuff, really important not to turn that into a game of chase the dog but also really important to prevent the self rewarding fun of destroying your stuff. Two things help me with this. A really solid collar grab game - so if I put my hand out - she's more likely to put her neck in my hand than not - no matter what she's nicked off with (contraband at the beach seems to be an exception so far), and a really good "remote drop", which stops her from running. I have no idea why this one works but we've rewarded remote drops a lot so she mostly does it when I ask. The main aim is to get lots of repetitions and fast response - and you don't need to work on distance - do it up close, do five treats a session, maybe two or three sessions a day, or at least once a day.

I know a bull terrier that was shown successfully - with a broken foot. So long as the damage was not genetic you can still show - tho anything that looks like a cosmetic modification might take some explaining and a letter from the vet. I don't let my dog greet any dog that is pulling on lead. Even if the dog is friendly - it's way too excited for a polite greeting and the owner is clueless. I don't let my dog greet other dogs if she is stiff on approach or starts pulling on lead. With some dogs - we do a three (or less) second greeting - so they don't get overwhelmed with excitement which may lead to bad behaviour.

Theoretically you should get permission tho it's a fine line between downloading the picture as part of viewing it on the web (you can't look at it unless your browser gets it for you), and then saving it for use as your desk top. I think most photographers would be fine with that use. What they don't want to see is their photograph used as a giant poster to advertise something they don't approve of, and with no credit or compensation. I think off topic doesn't get indexed by google. It is possible to stop google from indexing certain pages / folders you have on the internet by including a file called robots.txt containing: user-agent: * disallow: / You can also put a meta tag in the page. https://developers.google.com/webmasters/control-crawl-index/docs/robots_txt But it means when people put stuff into google - they won't find your page. Some web crawlers (anyone can make one) will/can ignore robots.txt

So I know with fish - that a spike to the brain behind the eye - is supposed to dispatch them quickly and humanely. With cane toads and cray fish - you're supposed to put them in the freezer... What is the best safe way to humanely dispatch a snake? Cut head off and then cave it in with a sledge hammer?

That's why I don't like when the snake dispatcher (not quite) leaves the still active head around where the dogs can get it. ARGH. OSoSwift - I shouldn't be surprised. I'm sure that keeping everything less "snakey" would mean there are fewer of them but I admit a few years back I saw a half grown brown snake trying to get into the Bathurst tourist bureau - and it must have crossed some very busy roads and a cricket oval or two (being mowed at the time) to get there. Fortunately evil hound was on lead when she noticed the fun wriggly stick thing. She seemed less keen to investigate when it put its head up and hissed at us. Oops.

That does sound bad - OSoSwift. Is there lots of open ground in your area or is it really scrubby with lots of long grass? I have ridden a Canberra Bike path with my feet on the handlebars as a snake headed across the path to the creek and then changed its mind. I had zero chance of stopping but fortunately snake got out the way and I missed it. Lots of long grass around that creek and trees and stuff. Out the back of the AIS. But where the horses lived, was mostly bare paddocks most of the time and all the horses were hand fed (hence snake in the feed shed). Didn't even lose one of the jack russells - tho one of my cousins occasionally loses a dog at her hobby farm house. Too much water close to the house.

I've been using sentinel chews, after using revolution + canex (yuck). But you'd need something else for ticks.

This is a video with things you can do with a dog that has a leg injury (and some other types of injuries) If you can engage in a bit of trick training - that helps wear the brain out some. With barking in the crate - our (Susan Garrett's rule from Crate Games) is to cover up the crate, if there is quiet - reward by lifting up a bit of the cover so the dog can see out, if remains quiet - open up more. If barking starts again, cover. And occasionally can reward with food - for quiet. But have to be super careful how you do this, ie no rewarding naughty then nice to get treats...

I guess the best option is - if you feel threatened by the snakes - to dispatch safely and then bury deep between the trees in the orchard, and put a giant rock on top to stop the dogs digging it up. And don't tell anyone. Personally - been on so many farms where there is a large population of various snakes and very few critters get killed by them. My dog not being at all snake savvy - I keep her on lead so she can't go investigate. But the farmers generally dispatch any that appear in the house yard. Good idea to cut the head off and put that somewhere it can't bite anything accidentally... sigh.

I think it's definitely confusing. It would be hard to prove that a brown snake was trying to attack you - if you leave them alone they leave you alone... I do know people who routinely dispatch red belly black snakes that get too close to the house. And I also know that a lot of people get bit when they try to kill the snake - ie if they hadn't tried to kill the snake they would have been fine. Personally - I've shared a horse feed shed with a brown snake - who was extremely well fed - so we only saw him on the first warm day of spring and not any other time. We did try to get the snake catcher to relocate him but the snake catcher - said better to keep the snake who knows you and your habits and will stop other snakes moving in, than get a new one in...

Oh Yay. Sometimes when you stand up for yourself and say what you want - you actually get it... Especially when you make it reasonably easy for the other person to do the right thing (like finding them contact details or how to find contact details of someone else who would do the job). :) Must be a quite a load of stress off...

Most farms I've ever visited... the dogs are either chained up or in runs when they're not working. When I take my dog - she's either under my supervision, or in a crate or a run. Already lost one dog - shot by a farmer for getting too close to his sheep - tho it wasn't clear if that dog ever left the property it was supposed to be on. Just not worth the risk. And there's other ways to die if a dog is prone to wandering - like being hit by car, or stomped by a bull, ripped up by a roo, or bit by a snake, or drowning in a dam...

napthalene is bad for doggies. Not sure citronella is good for them either. The idea is they don't get too close - ie hint of napth and they poop somewhere else. I don't think you'd need much. You might be able to use ground pepper too. But if the citronella is working - might as well stick with that.

Not long after the street incident - she did the hunch back pee on some seaweed at the beach and I notice a fisho who was leaving the beach (yay) kept looking back - so I got a big black bag out and pretended to pick up the not-poop and he stopped looking back after that. I love the vigilance but you do need to be sure there is a crap. If I'm offering a bag - I usually offer to help find the poop too and almost always I find it. But every now and again it was an air crap or too liquid (beach special - disappears into the sand or giant clump of seaweed) to pick up...

I once found a bit of coloured plastic in one bit of kibble from black hawk. Not good. And I also found bits of chicken bone (cooked) in nature's gift treats. I don't feed either any more. Stopped feeding the black hawk because it was too powdery, like feeding the dog flavoured flour.

Napthalene might work. But I like the camera idea. Leaving poop on the footpaths around here is rife. I have had words with a few people about it. I start with "do you need a bag for that" - if I'm close enough to talk to them. One time I collected a giant Labrador poop and handed it to the owner who had watched his dog crap next to the local primary school and left it there. I spent a while explaining to him that we won't be allowed to bring dogs to this park or be allowed anywhere out with dogs if he doesn't pick up. And handed him his crap to put in the bin. At least it was bagged... Most people around here are very happy to pick up if you offer them a bag and are really nice about it. A few get abusive. I get abusive back sometimes. Tho a better tactic is to get the dog rego before I offer them the bag... One couple with two dogs that my dog didn't like - and we were across the street, asked me to pick up after my dog when she'd peed. I said - show me the crap and I will pick it up. Cos there wasn't one. There wasn't even some other dog's crap. But my dog does get a very hunch back when she's aiming a pee for a particular spot.

Hmm I wonder if I could get Evil hound to wear one of the hats she has shredded...

This is a bit hard. She is taking advantage of you and you should point that out, that a planned holiday - is not the same as an emergency hospital visit. And that she should plan for her dog to be cared for professionally. Suggest you offer to look after the dog for twice (or more) what the pet resort would cost - ie add an hourly rate for getting the dog and dropping it off. Tell her she is stealing that money from the rescue if she continues to expect you to mind her pet while she's on holidays. If she doesn't want to keep the dog - then you can offer to take it back. Ie the name should be transferred back to you and you can rehome the dog with someone with better boundaries.

I like the pic with tongue sticking out and the one with head underwater. That amazed me - the first time my puppy put her head underwater to get something and blew bubbles...

I'm hoping it works in large quantities! My dog has been on chicken, rice and pumpkin the last 2 days and stole a takeaway container of bone broth off the bench. It was still frozen and he managed to eat 2/3 of it...he found it, stole it, opened it and ate it in the 15 mins I ducked out (and he's not a counter surfer as a rule). he must be feeling better, and HUNGRY...

thanks - I really like having the date in the file name.

I usually make my dog fast (I'm so mean), for 12 to 24 hours before starting three small meals a day of boiled chicken and rice. There are no weird additives in it, and it's easy to keep down and fast absorbed. I usually boil the chicken and the rice together in the same pot. I think mashed pumpkin would be a good option. It's got gut helping enzymes or something in it. fats and oils aggravate the problem.

Most of NZ is similar temperature to east coast NSW. Auckland is the same as Sydney roughly. Invercargill is cold but not as cold as Canberra. None of NZ gets as hot as Adelaide... So do I get my dog heart worm or not? I thought it was more about mozzies. And Australia - anywhere there is water - I've found mozzies. Or they find me.

avoid sand for mortar/bricks ie brickies sand - that tends to go hard. No good for adding drainage to soil... Or for sand pits. Another substance that sort of looks like sand - depending how fine they grind it - you don't want - is dolomite. River sand or coarse washed river sand (what you use to add drainage to soil) is what you'd want for sand pit. And don't ask the guy running the digger. He told me the wrong thing. Or you could get sandy loam - which is great for gardens, as is top dressing soil... and that way when it gets dug out of the sand pit - it's good for the garden. And don't forget to cover when not in use to prevent cats toilet. I saw one shell pool sand pit inside a 3 man dome tent - which provided shade and could be zipped up to keep critters out... that might work.